So, I now officially have a game of 6th edition under my belt, so all my musings are no longer just based on reading the book.
I’ll give a quick run-down of the lists and how the game went on. Then I’ll sum up with my impressions of 6th after the first game.
To keep things simple we stuck to 1000pts as with checking the rule book every few minutes to make sure we were doing things right we were aware what should be an 50 minute game would turn in to 2 – 3 hours. This also gave me chance to use my Tale of Store Gamers army list (more on that another day).

The Mission
We picked one of the new deployment ( playing long ways down the board) and rolled for mission and ended up with Relic, Night Fight was in effect 1st turn. Scoffer won first turn and decided to go first.

I rolled on the Biomancy chart and got Enfeeble, and Haemorrhage (cracking combo !!), and Got the Move through Cover Command Trait on my Rune Priest.

Scoffer deployed everything pretty centrally with the Wraiths and Command Barge front and centre. This was flanked on 1 side by the Ghost Ark, with the Annihilation Barge on the other. I countered by first checking the Cavalry Rules and when I was sure I could just skip over the ruins in the middle of the board to get towards the Relic he went there partnered by the Lone Wolf, Hunters in Rhino’s behind and Long Fangs get in cover with Mr Terminator (who from now on shall be called Mr.T.) to take all the first shots.

I’m not going to go into a turn by turn but will summarise how the game went.

Scoffer moved up towards the centre of the board to try and overwhelm the Relic, sticking the Wraith’s all around it, so I would have to deal with them. The Lone Wolf took a wound to the first gause shot thrown his way. I moved up to the Centre too, but tried to flank one HunterRhino up the side of the board to try and grab one of the secondary VP’s. Wolf Lord Charged into the Wraith’s hoping to tie them up for a few turns.

More shooting went into the Lone Wolf but nothing could stop him marching forward and making a mess of a Ghost Ark (open topped stuff really doesn’t like Chain Fists), The Long Fangs split fire and the plasma cannons made a mess of the guy’s from the freshly opened Ghost Ark, and the Missile Launchers snap fired at the Night Scythe but to no avail. With the Wraith’s tied up in the middle one squad of Grey Hunters, led by the Wolf Priest got into position, cast Enfeeble (-1 S & -1T), popped the Standard and charged, 1 Wraith with 1 wound was left. Who promptly got Tesla arc’d by his own team next turn.

The LordBarge intercepted my flanking Rhino killing it with Impact hits; we then got stuck in combat for a few turns.

With the Wraith’s gone I grabbed the Relic and pegged it double time back from Scoffers board edge where I know his Night Scythe was coming on in turn 5. By this point Scoffer had little left as the Wolf Lord went around smashing up Vehicles, and eventually rescuing the hunters stuck in combat with the lord. It ended turn 6 and Scoff Had his Night Scythe left and little else.

• Combat is not dead, with the large charge ranges possible, and only ever hitting Vehicles on a 3+, it has its place. I like the initiative step pile-in’s too
• Transports still have a role to play, it’s just not the impervious shield it was before. They will still work for bombing forward and getting your troops to the action, with even now the humble Rhino moving 18” a turn.
• Flyers are a bitch to get rid of without Skyfire. Even when you do manage a lucky snap shot, half of them get Jink’d away.
• I like the new powers, makes every game a little different, and adds some variation to existing army’s
• The mission and deployment where really fun, over time though I think they could do with some more varied Secondary Missions
• Wound allocation is great, and faster than 5th (well certainly not longer anyway). You might spend more time actually rolling dice, but there’s no counting out little piles of dice, separating them for this model and that, you just start rolling and it works really simply to be honest.
• Overlords on Command Barges got better with the chariot rules in my opinion, ok so you can only swoop 12″, but then you can Charge, get and extra attack, that hits on 3+ not 4+ plus D6, S6 Impact hits. the impact hit’s alone killed by Rhino.
• Mindshackle Scarabs are awesome in challenges, even though Scoffer didn’t get the rub of the green this game I still think Necrons will be filth in 6th.
• With focus fire, I wouldn’t be surprised if we see a few more Plasma Cannons sneaking into lists.
• Random charge range and Pre-Measure where great and added to the game. Gives you more options, and it’s all about balancing the Risk/Reward.

In general I am really chuffed with the new rule set and how it plays on the table, and I can’t wait to get a few more games under the ole belt.

About Chris Swaine

Chris Swaine is a fairly average gamer and when not indulging in miniature war-gaming plays on his xbox and gets out on his Mountain Bike.